[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 83 (Thursday, April 30, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23803-23808]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-11490]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment and Training Administration
Job Training Partnership Act; Project Title: Systematic Approach-
Profile/Referral Welfare Participants
AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, Labor.
ACTION: Notice of availability of funds and solicitation for grant
applications (SGA).
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SUMMARY: All information required to submit a grant application by
eligible applicants is contained in this announcement. The U.S.
Department of Labor (DOL), Employment and Training Administration
(ETA), announces the availability of funds for demonstration projects
to provide additional testing of a profiling process whereby State and
local officials can allocate reemployment and training services under
the major requirements of the new legislation, the Personal
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996. The program will be
funded by the Job Training Partnership Act, (JTPA), Titles III and IV.
This notice provides information on the process that eligible
entities must use to apply for demonstration funds, how grantees are to
be selected, and the responsibilities of grantees.
DATES: The closing date for receipt of proposals is May 29, 1998, at
2:00 p.m. (Eastern Time).
ADDRESSES: Applications shall be mailed to: U.S. Department of Labor,
Employment and Training Administration, Division of Acquisition and
Assistance, Attention: Marian G. Floyd, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW,
Room S-4203, Washington, DC 20210, Reference: SGA/DAA 98-010.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marian G. Floyd, Division of
Acquisition and Assistance. Telephone 202-219-7300, ext. 142 (this is
not a toll-free number).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and
Training Administration, is soliciting proposals on a competitive basis
to provide additional testing of a profiling process whereby State and
local officials can allocate reemployment and training services. The
announcement consists of four parts. Part I describes the application
process for eligible applicants who wish to apply for grant funds. Part
II provides the Government's Required Statement of Work. Part III
provides the deliverables and timetables. Part IV describes the
selection criteria for award.
Part I. Application Process
A. Eligibility
Eligible applicants are State Security Agencies (SESAs) and Service
Delivery Areas (SDAs) as designated by the State under JTPA, within
States containing a minimum of 0.50% of welfare recipients as a
percentage of the national welfare recipient population as of June 30,
1997.
B. Period of Performance
The Period of Performance will be twenty-one (21) months from date
of grant execution.
C. Funding
The Department anticipates awarding three (3) to five (5) grants
between $75,000 and $100,000 per grant, for a total of $400,000.
Applications that exceed $100,000 will not be considered. Awards will
be made on a competitive basis.
D. Matching Funds
Applicants will be expected to provide at least a 60 percent match
of the Federal funding with an in-kind or cash contribution to assure a
jointly administered pilot program. Also, applicants may use the
expertise, experience, and data and computer facilities of universities
or other interested research centers. Applicants are further encouraged
to coordinate with the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)
grantee agency in their areas.
E. Page Limitation
Applicant's technical proposal shall be limited to 20 double-
spaced, single-sided pages with 1-inch margins. Text type shall be at
least 10 pitch or larger. Applications that do not meet these
requirements will not be considered.
F. Submission of Proposal
Four (4) copies of the proposal (an original and three copies) must
be received. Your proposal must be organized in the following manner:
Section I--Financial and Summary Information (this section does not
count against your page limitation.)
(1) Standard Form (SF)-424; ``Application for Federal Assistance''
(Appendix A). The Federal Domestic Assistance Catalog number 17.246.
(2) A one or two page summary of your proposed project which shall
include information on the number of welfare recipients in the State
and proposed target area.
(3) ``Budget Information'', (Appendix B). Also include, on separate
pages, a detailed breakout of each proposed budget line item.
Section II--Technical Proposal (limited to 20 pages).
Your technical proposal must demonstrate the grant applicant's
capabilities in accordance with the Statement of Work in Part II of
this solicitation. No cost data or reference to costs shall be included
in the Technical Proposal. Applicants must also include resumes of
proposed staff and an organizational chart.
G. Hand Delivered Proposals
Proposals may be mailed or delivered by hand. A mailed proposal
should be mailed no later than five (5) calendar days prior to the
closing date for the receipt of applications. Hand-delivered grant
applications must be received at the designated place by 2:00 p.m.
(Eastern Time), on the closing date for receipt of applications. All
overnight mail shall be considered to be hand-delivered and must be
received at the designated place by the specified time on the closing
date. Telegraphed, electronic mail, or faxed proposals will not be
honored. Applications that fail to adhere to the above instructions
will not be honored.
H. Late Proposals
A proposal received at the office designated in the solicitation
after the exact time specified for receipt will not be considered
unless it is received before award is made and it--
(1) Was sent by U.S. Postal Service Express Mail Next Day service,
Post Office to Addressee not later than 5:00 p.m. at the place of
mailing two working days prior to the date specified for receipt of the
proposals. The term ``working days'' excludes weekends and U.S. Federal
holidays.
(2) Was sent by registered or certified mail not later than the
fifth calendar day before the date specified for receipt of
applications (e.g., an offer submitted in response to a solicitation
requiring receipt of applications by the 20th of the month must be
mailed by the 15th);
The term ``post-mark'' means a printed, stamped, or otherwise
placed impression (exclusive of a postage meter machine impression)
that is readily identifiable without further action as having been
supplied in the original receipt from the U.S. Postal Service. Both
postmarks must show a legible date, or the application shall be
processed as though it had been mailed late. ``Post-mark'' means a
printed, stamped, or otherwise placed impression (exclusive of a
postage meter machine impression) that is readily identifiable without
further action as
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having been supplied and affixed by an employee of the U.S. Postal
Service on the date of mailing. Therefore, applicants should request
the postal clerk to place a legible hand cancellation ``bull's eye''
postmark on both the receipt and the envelope or wrapper.
I. Withdrawal of Proposals
A grant applications may be withdrawn by written notice or telegram
(including mailgram) received at any time before the awarding of a
grant. An application may be withdrawn in person by the grant
applicant, or by an authorized representative of the grant applicant if
the representative's identity is made known and the representative
signs a receipt for the proposal.
Part II. Statement of Work
A. Purpose
The purpose of this solicitation is to fund pilot projects to
adapt, test and implement a profiling and referral model for welfare
recipients. The Department wants to expand the pilot sites to include a
variety of State Agencies or SDAs with emphasis placed on the
metropolitan areas with high welfare caseloads. The projects will be
developing models which:
1. Identify welfare recipients by using welfare administrative data
taken from applications/initial interviews for use in determining the
participants probability of finding (or not finding) employment within
a defined time period.
2. Provide a systematic approach for determining, referring, and
following up participants within the agencies to determine the efficacy
of the model, with computer communications available and used by major
parties, including TANF grantees, JTPA entities, and SESAs.
B. Background
States and localities are facing significant challenges resulting
from the recent passage of federal welfare reform legislation. They are
confronted with the dilemma of moving large numbers of welfare
recipients into jobs to provide reemployment assistance to participants
in Welfare-to-Work (WTW) programs. Currently, a demonstration in
Kalamazoo, Michigan is testing a profiling model that will assist
States dealing with this problem. This solicitation will provide for
additional testing of a profiling process, which, if successful, will
enable State and local officials to allocate reemployment and training
services in a cost effective manner and fulfill the requirements of the
new legislation, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act
of 1996 (PWRO).
Profiling is an early intervention approach for providing welfare
recipients with reemployment services to help speed their entry/reentry
into productive employment. It consists of two components: a profiling
mechanism and a set of reemployment services. It is the goal of welfare
profiling to predict the probability that individual welfare recipients
will find employment, based on administrative data that is collected at
the time individuals apply for welfare.
The model developed for a locality is based on historical data for
a recent past period of one to two years duration. It can then be
applied to current welfare recipients to determine the level and kinds
of employment services that should be provided to particular
individuals. Welfare profiling is a targeting tool that can be used by
program managers to guide them in their assignment of welfare
recipients to available employment services. It can also be used as an
allocation tool to assist in determining which welfare recipients
should be assigned to limited employment services.
The concept of profiling is not new. The Unemployment Insurance
(UI) program has been profiling since 1994 to assist dislocated workers
in their transition to new employment. The creation of the Worker
Profiling and Reemployment Services (WPRS) system represents a major
development for the employment and training system.
Throughout its history, UI had been concerned solely with providing
temporary compensation to eligible unemployed people while they look
for a new job. However, as economic conditions have changed and
permanent dislocation of workers has become a more common phenomenon,
UI has expanded the scope of its mission to attend more adequately to
the needs of dislocated workers who are likely to exhaust their UI
benefits before finding a new job.
UI now profiles claimants to determine their likelihood to exhaust
their benefits. Claimants who have the highest probabilities of
exhaustion are referred to reemployment services --provided by the
Employment Service (ES) and JTPA--as a condition of continued
eligibility for benefits. The success employment and training programs
have had in the early years of implementation of WPRS strongly suggests
that this model can be applied in other areas (like welfare-to-work) to
target services more effectively.
The Kalamazoo Welfare-to-Work Profiling pilot has developed a PC-
based software program that incorporates into the client intake system
the process of assigning probabilities of employment and referring
participants to services. It is designed to be used at the intake site
during the initial orientation as individuals are enrolled in the
welfare-to-work program. This software package can be adapted to
welfare-to-work programs at other sites and is available at no cost to
agencies involved in this initiative. The program, constructed using
standard database software, integrates and automates the various steps
in the intake process.
The intake administrator can use this program in the following way.
First, client information that has been previously collected is entered
into the database. Second, the administrator is notified of missing
information, which can be updated by asking the client to furnish that
information during intake. Third, based on the client information and
the predetermined weights generated from the statistical model,
probabilities of employment are assigned to each individual. Fourth,
the administrator enters the number of slots available in the various
services, and the program refers clients to these services based upon
their probabilities and a pre-assessment of the efficacy of these
services for clients with various needs. Fifth, referral slips are
printed for each client as a reminder of their assignment to services.
Sixth, all relevant information is stored in the database.
C. Project Design
Starting with the experience derived from developing and
implementing the Kalamazoo model, the purpose of the project is to
adapt or modify, test, and implement a profiling system geared to
assisting welfare recipients in acquiring the services needed to obtain
gainful employment.
The pilot will be based on the Kalamazoo WTW profiling model which,
in turn, takes as its starting point the approach used by the Worker
Profiling and Reemployment Services, which was mandated by Congress
(Pub. L.103-152). (The WTW profiling paper for the Kalamazoo, Saint
Joseph County SDA is available from the W.E. Upjohn Institute for
Employment Research, as a working paper on their website at: http://
www.upjohninst.org/publication/wp). This model should have value for
welfare recipients because it uses a targeting approach to allow custom
targeting of scarce resources for welfare recipients.
The major tasks are as follows:
The State Agency/SDA will adapt or modify and test a
profiling model for the selected area that requires a two step
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process. First, appropriate data for estimating the statistical
profiling model will be developed using recent welfare and work history
of recipients eligible for welfare. Second, a statistical model will be
adapted that uses the data to estimate the probability that an
individual participant will find employment. This involves benchmarking
results from a sample and applying results to characteristics for
predicted levels for individuals.
The State Agency/SDA will implement the profile and
referral system within the area using the characteristics of each
welfare recipient to generate probabilities of long term welfare
recipiency for individuals entering the welfare program. Based upon the
probabilities, welfare participants will be referred to services that
best meet their needs. This will require participant data collection
and processing. Successful implementation and outcomes of the profiling
and referral system will require the ability of states and SDAs to vary
their mix and intensity of services to participants according to their
estimated probabilities of employment.
The State Agency/SDA will assess effectiveness of the
project within the area and based upon its experience, provide a
general evaluation strategy for other SDA's/other states. They further
agree to provide the model and documentation for further testing and
evaluation to a sample of SDA's within ETA's pilot program and work
with and provide data to related research contractors funded by ETA as
part of this project.
Part III. Deliverables and Timetables
The Period of performance is 21 months from the date of execution
of the grant. The deliverables and due dates are as follows: (The due
dates are subject to negotiations between the grantee and the Grant
Officer's Technical Representative (GOTR).)
Paper illustrating the adaptation and testing of the
profiling model. This includes the appropriate data, recent welfare and
work history of welfare eligibles for estimating the model. This
includes a benchmark for assessing the accuracy of the model. This will
be due approximately 150 days after award.
Paper describing implementation of the profiling and
referral system focusing on the results from the area. This will
involve tracking and processing information on a sample of
participants. (A process and impact analysis) This would be due 180
days after award.
Grantees will prepare periodic and final program and
financial reports as stipulated in the grant agreement.
Part IV. Selection/Evaluation Criteria
Selection of grantees for awards will be made after careful
evaluation of grant applications by a panel selected for that purpose
by DOL. Panel results shall be advisory in nature and not binding on
the Grant Officer. Panelists shall evaluate applications for
acceptability based upon overall responsiveness to the Statement of
Work, with emphasis on the factors enumerated below. Applicants are
advised that awards may be made without further discussions.
a. Design and implementation plan for a profiling model for the
area served. (40 points)
b. Plan for participating in the assessment of the effectiveness of
the project (it will include a process and impact analysis). (25
points)
c. Relationship and linkages with other organizations and agencies
within the service area. (20 points) This should include agencies which
traditionally serve the target population (welfare recipients).
d. Experience and qualifications of key staff. (15 points)
Applicants are advised that letters of support are not necessary.
Signed at Washington, DC, this 27th day of April 1998.
Janice E. Perry,
Grant Officer.
Appendices
Appendix A--Application for Federal Assistance (Standard Form (SF)-424)
Appendix B--Budget Information
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FR Doc. 98-11490 Filed 4-29-98; 8:45 am]
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